Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Castor oil plant (Ricinus communis), of the Euphorbiaceae family. Fast-growing soft-wooded shrub or small tree with large palmate leaves and spiny seed-capsules; native range: north-eastern Africa and the Middle East; naturalised and cultivated throughout the tropics and warm temperate world. Globally recognized as eranda in Sanskrit, arandi / rendi in Hindi, bi ma; seed = bi ma zi (蓖麻子) in Chinese, khirwa (خروع) in Arabic, and castor oil plant, castor bean, Palma Christi, wonder tree in English. The part used is the fixed oil expressed from the seed; the seed for external use only; the root and leaf. Glossy, mottled bean-like seeds in three-celled prickly capsules; the cold-pressed oil pale, viscid and nearly tasteless with a faint acrid after-catch.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
CASTOR OIL PLANT
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Castor oil plant
- Scientific name
- Ricinus communis L.
- Family
- Euphorbiaceae
Form
- Part used
- the fixed oil expressed from the seed; the seed for external use only; the root and leaf
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- sweet · pungent
- Ayurveda
- pungent · sweet (the root pungent and astringent, the oil sweet)
- Western
- oily · acrid (the bland oil, the raw seed acrid)
- Unani
- sweet · bland
Temperature
- TCM
- neutral
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna — a warm vata drug, the root and oil)
- Western
- warm
- Unani
- hot (& dry, 2nd–3rd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Large Intestine · Lung
- Western
- bowels · intestines · joints · skin
- Unani
- intestines · nerves · uterus
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- (external) draws out toxins, reduces swelling and drains pus, and lifts prolapse and corrects deviation — a poultice of the pounded seed for facial palsy and for rectal or uterine prolapse; internally a drastic purge used only with great caution
- Ayurveda
- the foremost vata-hara; virechana (purgative), vedana-sthapana (relieves joint pain), shothahara (anti-inflammatory) and a vata-rasayana — the oil taken and applied in amavata (rheumatism)
- Western
- castor oil — a prompt, reliable small-intestinal cathartic (ricinoleic acid); a bland lubricant and emollient for skin, eye and hair; the leaf poulticed as a galactagogue
- Unani
- mus-hil (purgative), mulattif and muhallil (resolvent) — for cold nervous diseases, paralysis, joint pain and colic, and an emmenagogue
Cautions
Contraindications: pregnancy (a purgative and emmenagogue that may induce labour), intestinal obstruction, acute inflamed bowel and menstruation; the seed itself must never be taken internally
Toxicity: THE SEED IS DEADLY POISONOUS — it contains ricin, a toxalbumin, and a few chewed seeds can kill (vomiting, bloody diarrhoea, dehydration, collapse and multi-organ failure). The expressed and heat-treated OIL contains NO ricin (it is water-soluble and remains in the press-cake) and is a safe cathartic. The hazard is the whole or chewed seed, not the oil.
Interactions
- Western
- diuretics: additive potassium loss with purgation may cause hypokalaemia · cardiac glycosides: purgative-induced hypokalaemia potentiates glycoside (digoxin) toxicity
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